To Night Flashcards
Swiftly walk o’er the western wave,
4
- Night personified
- Apostrophised
- Alliteration of ‘W’ (causing rhythm to speed up)
- expressed as a wish
Spirit of Night!
3
- Tone of praise
- Night is portrayed as a deity
- ”!” intensifies the speaker’s emotive plea.
Out of the misty eastern cave,
2
- contrast
- Night comes from the East to set in the West (crosses oceans to be with the speaker)
Where, all the long lone daylight,
2
- Alliteration of “L”
- daytime is long and lonely
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
2
- Paradox (the night brings beautiful dreams and nightmares)
- The speaker is less lonely at night when he is alone
Which make thee terrible and dear, –
2
- Paradox (continued for joy and fear)
- the night and the speaker are both complex (the poet suffered from depression)
Swift be thy flight!
(End of stanza 1)
(4)
- Expressed as a wish
- Night can be both blissful and frightening
- Night offers comfort and fear
- The speaker desires the Night due to his circumstance of depression
Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,
1
- refers to the Night’s physical appearance
Star-inwrought!
2
- refer’s to night’s physical appearance
- Deify’s an element that is beautiful
- a fabric that is intricately embroidered with a pattern
Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day;
1
- Night’s hair blinds the personified Day
Kiss her until she be wearied out,
1
- Personification (Night is a lover rather than a fighter)
Then wander o’er city, and sea, and land,
1
- speaker wants Night to encompass all of his words
Touching all with opiate wand –
1
- opium associated with sleep
Come, long-sought!
(End of stanza 2)
(7)
- wish expressed
- more urgent tone
- speaker’s desire for the impending night
- melancholy mood
- day is tiring from night
- night touches everything in its path
- Night has magic properties or sleep providing respite
When I arose and saw the dawn,
3
- disappointment by day
- dawn is the end of night
- compares night to its opposite
I sighed for thee;
1
- disappointed
when light rode high, the dew was gone,
1
- long, slow passing of day
And noon lay heavy on the flower tree,
1
- unbearable length of day
And weary Day turned to his rest,
1
- Day is tired of being day
Lingering like an unloved guest,
2
- Alliteration of “L”
- Day is unloved (not the same beauty)
I sighed for thee.
(End of stanza 3)
(5)
- The speaker has been wearied by Day
- Speaker longs for the night
- Sun begins to rise higher and higher (looming over the speaker)
- Day is reluctant to leave
- repetition of ‘I sighed for thee’ implies a mournful tone
Thy brother Death came, and cried,
3
- night is linked to death
- Alliteration of “C”
- does not possess the same allure
Wouldst though me?
2
- Personification of death
- speaker doesn’t want death
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy eyed,
3
- night is linked to sleep
- Alliteration of “S”
- does not have the same power as night
Murmured like a noontide bee,
1
- it was like a bee rather than a god
Shall I nestle near thy side?
0
-
Wouldst thou me? – And I replied,
0
- personified sleep
No, not thee!
(End of stanza 4)
(6)
- firm tone
- he wants night and night only
- similarities of night to death and sleep
- rejects death and sleep
- sleep is innocent
- onomatopoeia (murmured like a noontide bee)
Death will come when thou are dead,
1
- death will come when night is no longer there
Soon, too soon –
1
- his death will come too soon and take him away from the joy of the night
Sleep will come when thou art fled;
1
- he sleeps during the day
Of neither would I ask the boon,
1
- neither death nor sleep as beneficial
I ask of thee, belovèd Night–
1
- night is loved
Swift be thine approaching flight,
1
- wishes for Night’s quick arrival
Come soon, soon!
6
- tone of yearning
- contrast with death
- he will resist death and sleep for as long as he can
- death will come soon
- no gift is wanted from death nor sleep
- repetition from elsewhere in the poem amplifying the desire
Overview
2
- ode to the night
- unexpected because poets usually praise the day and springtime.
